Persimmon sees improving market

The company said it had a better-than-expected summer

The UK's largest housebuilder by volume, Persimmon, has said that the housing market is stabilising after months of sharp falls.

"Recently, selling prices have stabilised in most parts of mainland UK," the company said.

For the six months to June, Persimmon reported a pre-tax profit of £9.8m compared with £36.9m last year.

Persimmon said sales in the "historically quieter" weeks of summer were ahead of its expectations.

The company's profit was boosted by a gain of £27.9m after it decided that the value of its assets had increased. Stripping out this gain, the company made an £18.1m loss.

'Improvement'

The housebuilder confirmed it would not set aside any more money for write-downs of the value of its land.

"Mortgage availability continues to be a concern, particularly the scarcity of higher loan to value products," Persimmon said.

"However, the overall situation in respect of the mortgage market and valuations has recently shown signs of improvement."

The average selling price of houses was about £155,524, compared with £181,485 over the same period in 2008.